3 




ADDRESS 

BEFORE 

THE DIALECTIC SOCIETY 

OF THE 

CORPS OF CADETS, 

IN COMMEMORATION OF 

THE GALLANT CONDUCT OF THE NINE GRADUATES OF 

THE MILITARY ACADEMY, 

AND OTHER OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES' ARMY, 

WHO FELL IN THE BATTLES WHICH TOOK FLACE IN 

FLORIDA, 



On the 28th of December, 1835, and the 25thDecember, 1837 ; the former called Dade's Battle, 
the latter, the Battle of Okee-cho-bee. 



DELIVERED AT WEST POINT, N. Y., ON THE 29th DECEMBER. 1838. 



BY LIEUTENANT BENJAMIN ALVORD U. S. A. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. 

j C: 07 



NEW-YORK: 
WILEY & PUTNAM, 161 BROADWAY. 



1 8 39. 



Printed by William Osboru, 
88 William-street. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



West Point, N. Y, Jan. 1, 1839. 

To Lieut. B. Alvord : 
Dear Sir, 

At a meeting held by the Dialectic Society on Saturday evening, Decem- 
ber 29th, it was 

" Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to Lieutenant Alvord, 
for his very excellent and appropriate address, and that a copy of the same be 
requested for publication." 

The Committee selected by the Society to carry this resolution into effect, 
flatter themselves with the hope that soon it will be their agreeable duty to report 
sto the Dialectic Society your compliance with their wishes. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

I. J. STEVENS, ) 

H. W. HALLECK, > Committee. 

J. W. T. GARDINER, ) 



West Point, N. Y, Jan. 3, 1839. 

■Gentlemen, 

I have received your communication of the lstinst., in which you make known 
to me a resolution of the Dialectic Society, presenting to me its thanks for the 
address delivered on the 29th ult., and requesting a copy of it for publication. In 
communicating through you my intention to accede to this request, I beg leave to 
assure the Society that I fully appreciate the very kind and indulgent spirit which 
prompted the resolution. I cannot omit also to acknowledge the very courteous 
manner in which you, gentlemen, have performed the duty assigned you by the 
Society. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

B. ALVORD. 

Cadets Stevens, Halleck, and Gardiner, i 
Committee from the Dialectic Society. £ 



ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Dialectic Society 

and of the Corps of Cadets : 

From the earliest ages of the world military 
achievements have met with the applause of man- 
kind. The Holy Scriptures give animated descrip- 
tions of the wars encountered by the different tribes 
of Israel, and our admiration is challenged in its 
holy pages for the deeds of young David when the 
giant of the Philistines " defied the armies of 
Israel." The youthful hero subsequently became 
the pious child of song, and those inspired pages, 
the Psalms of David, abound with numerous apt 
allusions to the exciting scenes of war. And who 
can forget that touching reference to the fall of Saul 
and Jonathan, when the inspired writer exclaims — 
" The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high 
places; — how are the mighty fallen!— How are the 
mighty fallen, and the weapons or war perished !" 



6 



In the classic times of Greece and Rome, orators 
and poets contended for the honor of lauding the 
deeds of their heroes. Homer was emphatically the 
war poet of the ancients ; and such is the fire of his 
descriptions, that the reader is instantly transported 
to the field of battle, forgetting the poet in the 
scenes he would describe. Valor was then re- 
warded with honor and glory, and was even made a 
religious virtue. Thus, under the sanction of litera- 
ture and religion, the soul of the fiery Greek was 
taught to " battle for heaven in the ranks of war." 
And 

" Greece is still a watchword to the earth ; 
" When man would do a deed of worth, 
" He points to Greece, and turns to tread. 
" So sanctioned, on the tyrant's head ; — 
" He looks to her, and rushes on 
li Where life is lost and freedom won !" 

Genuine military virtue is inseparable from all 
other kinds of moral duty, and it was not without 
just cause that the Roman language expressed vir- 
tue and courage by one and the same word. To 
dignify and enhance the conduct of the warrior, it 
is therefore necessary that the cause in which he is 
engaged should be based upon the eternal founda- 
tions of justice and truth. It is, however, painful 
to reflect, that in most ages of the world the banner 



7 



of war has been too often raised to fight the quar- 
rels of the sovereign, or to minister to the bad pas- 
sions of the people. When the Greek and Roman 
republics existed in their purity, many of their most 
brilliant achievements were consecrated to the sacred 
cause of liberty and national independence. But 
the wars of succeeding periods, down to modern 
times, have too often been wars for conquest, of 
fanaticism, or for revenge. 

In the history of the middle ages, the eye rests 
with peculiar pleasure on one gleam of sunshine— 
the institution of chivalry. Chivalry had its origin 
in the disorders which succeeded the reign of Char- 
lemagne, and it was created in the absence of law, 
and as a substitute for it. It had for its object to 
enforce personal, and not national rights. It was 
a military institution " prompted by enthusiastic 
" benevolence, sanctioned by the religious creed of 
" those days, the purpose of which was to protect 
" the weak from the oppression of the powerful, 
* " and to defend the right, course against the wrong.'' 
To do this, the knight who was admitted to the 
noble order of chivalry, took a solemn vow upon 
the cross of the sword, calling Heaven to witness it, 
and the saints to help him in its execution. 

It is impossible to contemplate, without admira- 
tion, this institution, as it existed in its original 



8 



purity, severe in its morality, ardently devoted to the 
noble objects of its creed, and eminently useful in 
the troublous state of the times. It softened down 
the asperities of war— it inculcated courtesy in the 
hall, as well as valor in the field. And, let it never 
be forgotten, that in those benighted ages of the 
world, it served to elevate, honor and protect, that 
gentler sex, whose milder graces have ever inspired 
gentleness of manner and genuine courtesy, and 
have ever given encouragement to every thing that 
can adorn and dignify the human character. But 
the essence of the principles of chivalry were of a 
nature too pure and exalted to be safely intrusted 
to man as he existed in those dark ages. Though 
its forms survived for centuries, they gradually 
degenerated, until, after the reformation, it was 
happily associated with a purer and holier principle. 

But as these forms, and the ancient frame-work 
of its constitution decayed and crumbled away, did 
the spirit which had given it birth also vanish and 
take its flight from the earth I We think not. It 
still lives, as all forms of human virtue are in our 
day still to be found among mankind, though it has 
been modified, chastened and improved, by the 
revolutions among nations, and the vast increase in 
all the elements of knowledge and happiness. 

We are aware that the celebrated apostrophe of 



9 



the immortal Burke, is often quoted to prove the 
converse of this proposition. He exclaims — " The 
" age of chivalry is gone ! That of sophists, econo- 
" mists and calculators has succeeded, and the glory 
" of Europe is extinguished for ever ! The mi- 
" bought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, 
" the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, 
" is gone ! It is gone, that sensibility of principle 
" which felt a stain like a wound ; which inspired 
" courage whilst it mitigated ferocity ; which enno- 
" bled whatever it touched, and under which vice 
" itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness." 

These words are very eloquent — but are they 
true 1 Has the bright essence of chivalry departed 
with the forms by which it was surrounded 1 Or 
rather, does not the same exalted spirit still exist, 
though consecrated to the sacred cause of Liberty, 
and the defence of free institutions ? The mind of 
that great statesman, acute as it was, did not look 
through the mists of the French Revolution, and 
discern the good which existed in the midst of all 
that evil. Attached, with romantic faith, to the 
forms and ceremonies of the olden times, he could 
see nought but the horrors of the scene immediately 
before his eyes, and did not appear to divine all the 
unmeasured glories which were then opening on the 
human race. He descanted on " the generous loy- 

2 



10 



" alty to rank keeping alive the spirit of exalted 
" freedom." Such were the sentiments of a man 
who claimed to be free and independent in his opi- 
nions, and who has been justly styled the Cicero of 
the English language. Those few words embody 
all the prejudices and the false doctrines of the 
school of which he became the great champion. 

We love and venerate the past, and are often 
Feady to surrender the imagination, without reserve, 
to the brilliant hallucinations which the mind de- 
lights to throw around it. But we repeat, that we 
are not prepared to admit that mankind has dege- 
nerated in any virtue which adorns the human cha- 
racter. The sacred principles of duty, fidelity, honor, 
and religion, are deeply planted in the breast of 
man ; and there never has existed any age when 
some traces of the divine original did not brightly 
shine forth. But chivalry saw only a little way, and 
that " as through a glass darkly" into the regions 
of Truth. It was often wanting in modesty, and 
then it served but to cherish individual conceit and 
arrogance. It was often clothed with too much 
power, being both judge and executioner. Law, 
reason, and the most sacred rights, lay at the same 
level, and at the point of its sword. In some coun- 
tries it degenerated into Quixotism, seeking or cre- 
ating a foe for the sole pleasure of vanquishing it. 



11 



It was exerted for the defence of solitary indivi- 
duals, or devoted to long and bloody crusades in 
the cause of fanaticism. But we have substituted 
the love of country for the love of personal glory. 
The chivalry of our day has assumed the broader 
and lovelier name of Patriotism ;■ — it is co-extensive 
with the wants of all ; — it is enlisted in the defence 
of nations, and is devoted to the cause of Truth, 
Justice, and Liberty. 

Let us analyze a little this vaunted superiority of 
ancient valor. The courage of the knights of old 
was physical, rather than moral. Deeds of personal 
prowess and strength formed, in a great degree, their 
especial honor and glory. But even in this, their 
greatest boast, were they not much inferior to the 
warrior of the present day. They always fought in 
armor. Cased in armor from head to foot, with his 
shield and his helmet, his cuirass and his lorica, the 
valiant knight stood forth almost invulnerable to his 
adversary, nay, almost impervious to the air or to 
the light of heaven. The personal valor of such a 
mass of moving bulwarks, a fortification per se, 
must, forsooth, never be unfavorably contrasted with 
the deeds of the modern warrior, whose movements 
are free and unrestrained, and whose person is ex- 
posed to the light of the sun or the shafts of the 
foe ! It has been said, that " the spirit of chivalry 



12 



" was in armor born, as also in armor it died." " It 
" died," as the use of armor died mvay ! Nay ! pray 
do not let it die, but fain give to us its ghost, that 
some little of that precious boon may be vouchsafed 
to its unfortunate posterity ! The ancients even 
clothed their very gods in steel, and in their puny 
conceptions of infinite perfection, they did not give 
their deities sufficient valor to throw away their 
armor. The exploits of the mighty Hercules serve 
but to (( invest him with the skins of the monsters 
he slew." And Jupiter Tonans, the Olympic father 
of their gods 3 is furnished with a goat-skin, both as 
a breast-plate and a shield. Even Minerva, the very 
goddess of war, is born into the world in armor; and 
Mars, seated on his stately pedestal, dispenses his 
warlike oracles, duly armed with shield and buckler. 
It was well that Milton clothed the imps of Pandemo- 
nium in classic armor, for it relieved their grotesque 
figures, and they at least require every factitious pro- 
tection to shield them from the wrath of the 
Almighty. Virtue needs no such ornament. 

" What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted ; 
" Thrice is he armed that has his quarrel just, 
' ; And he but naked, though locked up in steel, 
" Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.-" 

" The age of chivalry is gone!" And must 



13 



the great orator be allowed to fix also upon out- 
age the stigma of diminishing, in the slightest 
degree, that respect and devotion which is ever 
due to the fair sex? Such a doctrine certainly 
forms no part of the American creed ; though we 
are happily removed from the occurrence of any 
such melancholy reverse, as Mr. Burke so touch- 
ingly describes in the case of the lovely and unfor- 
tunate Dauphiness of France. The adoration paid to 
her by the courtly Parisians, the loss of which is so 
eloquently lamented, was created and cherished as 
much by the influence of rank and station as 
by personal attractions. Here, the sentiment of 
gallantry has its birth in the midst of the same sub- 
lime scenery, and the same national influences, which 
have nurtured and maintained the love of freedom. 
It was planted on our soil among those other native 
and intrinsic graces of character which our forefa- 
thers have bequeathed to us ; and our earliest dreams 
of the nation's glory, or of personal ambition, are 
sweetly and brightly mingled with all that just admi- 
ration, and that " generous loyalty to the sex" which 
ever has been, and ever will be, accorded to the 
American fair. Valor in the field, and chivalrous 
devotion to the sex must ever go hand in hand. We 
need neither tilt nor tournament to show that ; and 
surely it will never be justly imputed to those whose 



14 



destiny it is to practice the military art in our coun- 
try, that they have ever failed to pay due homage at 
that altar. 

"The age of chivalry is gone!" And this 
is asserted in the year seventeen hundred and 
ninety ! But a few short years had then elapsed 
since events, fraught with honor and true glory 
to the race, had transpired in another quarter of 
the globe. That period was still long enough to 
have enabled a statesman and a man of liberal mind, 
to banish the prejudices of an Englishman, and look 
calmly and impartially upon the history of America. 
Mr. Burke's reputation as a profound statesman 
cannot be called in question, and the world has paid 
homage to the extent and brilliancy of his learning, 
and the power and splendor of his eloquence. But 
much as we are disposed to admire all of these 
qualities, we are compelled to believe that at that 
date he did not, or would not, entertain in his mind 
the first glimpse of the true republican principle. 
He could not separate republicanism from jaco- 
binism. He was never able to analyze the agita- 
tions of that important period. The whole subject 
was to him obscured by the gloomy sensations too 
justly excited by the unparalleled violence and ex- 
cesses of the French. He never reflected that the 
great original principle of chivalry, " to support the 



15 



weak against the strong, and the right cause against 
the wrong," was the very seed and essence of repub- 
licanism. His devoted and romantic attachment to 
the forms of royalty never permitted him to turn his 
bright intellect to investigate the philosophy of the 
subject. And we firmly believe, that if ever con- 
vinced, it would have been 

_ — _ « Against his .will, 
" Consenting, but half consenting still." 

Absorbed by nearer objects of interest, Mr. Burke 
had forgotten to look across the Atlantic and endea- 
vor to discern the real character of the events which 
had there occurred, and the glorious destiny which 
awaited the western world. If ever true heroism 
and personal valor have been consecrated by devo- 
tion to great principles, and to the interests of man- 
kind, instead of ministering to an idle vanity, and to 
a barren ambition, the example is to be found in our 
revolutionary struggle. The show and outward 
pomp of a brilliant tournament were not there, nor 
the rewards of knighthood, nor a peerage at the 
hands of the sovereign, but broad and extensive 
usefulness marked the labors of our forefathers, 
and they found their ample recompense in the con- 
sciousness of doing their duty, and in the deep joy 



16 



which pervaded their breasts in acquiring that free- 
dom and independence which was to them " the 
pearl of great price." " The age of chivalry is 
2fone !" And this was said when the world was still 
ringing with the names of WASHINGTON and his 
compatriots, whose achievements had won for them- 
selves a proud station in the temple of glory, and 
had given birth to a young, free, and mighty empire. 

The forms of chivalry decayed and died away 
soon after the invention of gunpowder, and as the 
use of fire-arms was gradually introduced. That 
bright goddess of the middle ages thereupon took 
its flight and winged its way to the heaven of the 
troubadour ! The fates thus willed that this " yil- 
lanous saltpetre" should be brought to light by the 
friar Roger Bacon, as an antidote to romance, and 
to dissipate the charms of military life ! An inven- 
tion of the cloister, it was a monkish device to en- 
hance the austerities of religion by absorbing the 
gayeties and charms of the tented field and the tour- 
nament ! By some such supposition, would the ex- 
clusive admirers of the past account, for this provi- 
dential invention ; and they will assure us that the 
redoubted Bayard, "le chevalier sans jpetir et sans 
reproche" who flourished in the fifteenth century, was 
the last of that golden age, and that with him died, 
not only the romance, but the glory of the profes- 



17 



sion of arms ! The invention of gunpowder changed 
the whole face of the military art, and caused it to be 
elevated into a science. About the same period the 
improvements in the art of printing, the reformation, 
the invention of the mariner's compass, and the disco- 
very of this continent by Columbus, all served to give 
a new impulse to every branch of knowledge, art, and 
enterprise. The science of war has thus grown up 
to its present gigantic stature and perfections along 
with all those noble sciences, which have been 
so much improved during the last three centuries. 
To become an accomplished warrior of the present 
day, is quite a different task from that which occu- 
pied the knight of old. It does not consist in ad- 
justing a helmet or a shield, in poizing a lance, in 
dealing strokes with a battle axe at the fated 
" pell ;" — nor is its theory buried in the handling 
of a musket. To acquire those accomplishments 
which are now necessary for the practice of the 
military art, the candidate for that noble profes- 
sion, must devote himself to many and various stu- 
dies, and must drink deep at the fountains of truth. 
You, gentlemen of the corps of Cadets and of this 
Society, are now engaged in those profound studies 
best calculated to prepare you to understand all the 
sublime mysteries in the art of war. Great and 
leading principles characterize every department of 

3 . 



18 



that art, and every branch of the service, and in vain 
will it be for any one to fold his arms and expect to 
comprehend by intuition those points, which it has 
required the experience of centuries to discover and 
establish. You are employed in the sublime in- 
vestigations of truth, and in the acquirement of that 
knowledge which tends to elevate the intellect and 
to refine and chasten the whole moral character. 
By cherishing a love for every thing that is true and 
beautiful, you are daily adding to the honest and 
firm conviction of your hearts, and are led to lay hold 
with still firmer faith upon those lofty sentiments 
and principles which should ever animate the Ameri- 
can youth. Your education here is truly American, 
for you are taught to think and reason upon all sub- 
jects, upon every thing you see or hear, and upon 
every act which you are called upon to do. And it is 
the salutary and true effect of your entire education to 
cherish that genuine chivalry, that glowing patriot- 
ism, that firm American character, which is sustain- 
ed and perpetuated by a sound mind and a pure 
heart. 

Pardon me, gentlemen, for here alluding to the 
idea proclaimed not many months since, "that 
science in an officer interposes obstacles to his suc- 
cess on the field of battle." I am well aware that I 
need not here dwell upon this pointless and absurd 



19 



suggestion. I am well aware that your minds are 
made up on that subject ;— and that its bare men- 
tion serves but to renew the feeling of surprise and 
pity with which you first learned, that a spirit so 
puny and uncandid could be indulged, or that it 
would give utterance to such a deliberate absurdity. 
Recent events have furnished an ample though 
needless commentary. It is to be hoped that we 
shall seldom be called upon to witness a refutation 
so mournful in its character, and so loud in its lan- 
guage. 

In dwelling thus at length on the preceding topics,, 
I am aware that I am liable to the imputation of 
consuming your time in speculations not imme- 
diately connected with the object for which we 
are assembled. But I have thought it not im- 
proper to present these views in order to dis- 
tinguish properly the position occupiedby the war- 
rior of the present day, and especially to glance 
at a few of those sentiments which should ani- 
mate the American officer. In our profession, as 
well as in the spirit which marks the age, the physi- 
cal has given way to the moral and intellectual. If 
the spirit of a false and Quixotic chivalry, often 
erring, though sometimes pure in its original prin- 
ciples, has departed, it has most assuredly been 
succeeded by an age in which knowledge, religion* 



20 



freedom, and all the arts which adorn life, have 
flourished with unwonted vigor. But if they have 
also elevated the character, motives, morality and 
acquirements of those who practice the military art, 
they at the same time devolve upon nations, thus 
enlightened, if possible a still more responsible duty 
in deciding the momentous question of peace or war. 
We conceive that the war in which those events 
have occurred which we shall presently consider, 
was demanded by the sternest justice and the most 
important national considerations ; — although that 
war, like all wars, is to be regretted as a public ca- 
lamity, and is rendered the more melancholy as it is 
waged against a feeble, misguided and uncivilized 
race. 

It is now time that we should pass to the consider- 
ation of the events which have been occurring in 
the Peninsula of Florida during the last few years. 
But we will first allude briefly to our relations with the 
aboriginal inhabitants of this country. That race 
once had uncontrolled possession of this fair con- 
tinent. Let us suppose that when America was first 
discovered, the nations of "Europe had thought proper 
to abstain from sending any colonies to occupy the 
soil. Will not all admit that, in that case, a public 
calamity, would have befallen mankind 1 No ! it 
was never intended by the God of Nature that this 



21 



beautiful and magnificent continent should sleep 
on in benighted barbarism under perpetual vassal- 
age to hordes of ignorant savages. To arrest and 
blot out all that has been done to advance civili- 
zation, Christianity, political and religious freedom 
on this western continent, would be to annihilate 
many of the brightest glories in the history of our 
race. Far be it from us to extenuate in the slight- 
est degree, any of the numerous wrongs which have 
been committed against the red man ; but warfare 
appears to have been an inseparable concomitant of 
the advance of the whites into this country. Per- 
haps Heaven, in its wise Providence, willed that our 
forefathers should be thus trained to the use of fire- 
arms, and to deeds of daring and hardihood. Thus 
becoming a warlike people, they were prepared to 
enact that important part on the theatre of the world 
which*devolved upon them, and which they so suc- 
cessfully executed. Our tranquillity and our pros- 
perity are acquired by the price of their blood, free- 
ly poured out from the earliest stages of our history. 

Thus the fate of the red man of the forest, melan- 
choly though it is, appears to have been inevitable 
and arranged for the best of purposes by the hand 
of Divine Providence. 

But it forms no part of our justification of the 
Florida war to rely upon such general considera- 



22 



tions. That war has been brought upon the Semi- 
nole* nation by their own faithlessness and treach- 
ery, — and we conceive that it is founded on the 
broadest principles of justice. Though it eminent- 
ly behooves our government to be rigidly just, ex- 
tremely scrupulous and humane in all its intercourse 
with the Indian tribes, yet it is all-important that 
faithlessness and treachery should be promptly 
punished, or their respect for us, and our influence 
over them, will instantly vanish. 

From the most careful attention and reflection 
we have been able to give to the subject, the follow- 
ing is a brief statement of the facts in reference to 
the origin of the war in Florida. 

The Seminole nation is principally made up of 
runaways (as their very name implies) from the 
lower Creeks, and it has occupied that portion of 
Florida, the great majority not more than twenty 
years, and nearly all not more than thirty years. The 
Mickasukies, the most ferocious, relentless and war- 
like of all, joined the nation in 1819, when driven 
beyond the Suwannee by the operations of General 
Jackson. Even at that date, when the Floridas 
were first ceded to the United States, it was repre- 



* Pronounced as if written Sem-e-no-le. 



23 



sented that they were reduced to great extremities 
for want of the means of subsistence. The scarcity 
of game was the ostensible cause, but the true one, 
doubtless, must be found in their idle and vicious 
habits, being averse to the cultivation of the soil. As 
Spain had in no way recognised these Indians when 
Florida was ceded, it became necessary, as with all 
the Indian tribes, to enter into a regular understand- 
ing with the Seminoles, and this led to the treaty of 
Fort Moultrie in 1823, by which a certain portion of 
the peninsula was solemnly secured to them, which, 
of course, they never afterwards could be expected 
to surrender but with their own consent. It provided 
for their subsistence for one year. 

As the country north of them became settled, 
they of course became subject to all that unjust 
treatment which the unfortunate red man has al- 
ways experienced at the hands of a border popula- 
tion. And here it is proper to remark, that it is all- 
important to distinguish between the relation in 
which that population stand to the Indians, and that 
which is occupied by the Government. The latter 
is a mediator and peace-maker between them 
and often stands in an antagonist position to the 
first. It is a very difficult task to do justice to the 
red man, and a most responsible duty devolves upon 
the Indian agents in such cases. Our government 



24 

cannot be omnipresent nor omniscient, or it would 
always be able to extend its fatherly protection to 
the savage who roams the forest, confident it may 
be, of quiet and safety in the midst of his own wild 
and boundless home, at the very moment when the 
unprincipled outcast from civilization is plotting h'ss 
destruction. It is well known that the officers of 
the army, stationed among the Indian tribes to aid 
and assist the Indian agents, have always been their 
best friends and protectors. It is their duty as well 
as their pleasure to protect them from injuries. And 
I am convinced that the Seminole nation could not 
have experienced more kind and considerate treat- 
ment than they ever received from those military 
officers who were stationed among them. Indeed, 
twice have they requested that some of those same 
officers should act as their agents, when they have 
talked of removal. Doubtless this proximity to the 
whites, as well as their real or pretended want of 
subsistence, led them to agitate that subject among 
themselves, especially as their original tribe the 
Creeks, had consented to remove to the West. 

More than ten years ago the Seminole nation 
petitioned the general government to aid them in 
obtaining the means of subsistence, and Congress 
passed an appropriation to purchase food to distri- 
bute among them. Thus the very first steps taken 



25 



by our government towards them were marked by 
indulgence and kindness. I am now inclined to 
think that the request may have been a cunning 
stratagem, perfectly in keeping with their subse- 
quent conduct, and prompted by idleness, as game 
was becoming scarce. But it matters, not, whether 
there was or was not cause for such legislation. It 
most assuredly predisposed the government to be- 
lieve that their soil and their game could not afford 
them subsistence, and that a removal to a more 
fertile country would be for their benefit. In going 
to Arkansas they would not leave " the bones of 
their ancestors behind them," and they would but 
follow their brethren, the Creeks, to that country. 
About the year 1830 it was represented to the 
government by the Seminoles themselves* that they 
desired to form a treaty with the United States, to 
exchange their lands for others west of the Missis- 
sippi, and thus to follow their mother tribe to that 
country. This led to the conditional treaty of 
Payne's Landing, of the 9th May, 1832, a treaty 
which I doubt not was fully and fairly entered into. 
By their own request they had previously received 
one month's time to collect their people together on 
that occasion. The treaty was based upon the 



* This was stated by Col. Jos. M. White, delegate from Florida, 
in his speech on the floor of Congress of 3d June, 1836. 

4 



26 



very liberal proposition, that they should send a depu- 
tation of their own chiefs to examine for themselves 
and be perfectly satisfied, with the new country 
which it was proposed that they should occupy, with 
their new neighbors, and that the Creeks would 
receive them again into their family. If they decided 
favorably, then the treaty was to "be binding on 
the respective parties."* This deputation,, consisting 
of eight chiefs, went and made their examination, 
and by a solemn ratification concluded at Fort 
Gibson, on the 28th March, 1833, " they declared 
themselves well satisfied with the location provided 
for them by the commissioners." This action on 
their part, as they well understood, by the unam- 
biguous terms of the first named treaty, made it 
binding on the whole Seminole nation. It was con- 
firmed by the Senate of the United States, and it 
became the supreme law of the land. I have never 



* We are aware that a different idea has prevailed among those 
who were too willing to believe rumor, without examining the treaty 
itself. We observe that in the North American Eeview for April, 
1837, it is insisted that the province of the deputation was simply to 
"explore" that country and report for the future action of the 
Seminole nation. That nation did afterwards act again in April, 
1835, and confirm the ratification at Fort Gibson, thus taking away 
from their strenuous advocates every excuse for their faithlessness. 
It is no part of our object to defend the discretion and wisdom of all 
the agents who were in the nation previous to the war, but we wish 
to exhibit truly the real conduct of the Seminoles themselves. 



27 



been able to discover in these transactions any want 
of the most perfect justice, integrity, and liberality 
towards those Indians. 

Such was the inception of this matter. It was 
brought on by their own requests and solicitations. 
What was the sequel 1 Those eight chiefs forming 
the deputation, returned to Florida. Three out of 
the eight remained true and faithful to their pro- 
mises; but the remaining five immediately set to 
work to oppose the fulfilment of the treaty, and to 
undo the work of their own hands. 

Let us now remark that it is in vain to suppose 
that the red man is not fully aware of the obligations 
of a treaty. It is true that nice questions in casuis- 
try, or delicate shades of ethical propriety, form no 
part of his creed— but it is equally true that there 
are a few plain principles of morality firmly imprint- 
ed on the savage breast. One of these is the duty 
of telling the truth and of fulfilling a promise. It is 
as useful to them as to us, and just as essential to 
their intercourse with each other. Fidelity is with 
them a watchword, and the best passport to their 
good graces. Falsehood and deception do not fail 
to excite the deepest prejudices, and to insure their 
eternal enmity. By what phrases do they designate 
a good man and a bad man 1 A " good or a strait 
man" is one who keeps his word, and he secures 



28 



their friendship and respect. But by a " bad and a 
croaked man," they mean one who is false or per- 
fidious ; — and such a man they will ever distrust and 
despise. This is the Indian character, b'uch is the 
sum and substance of their morality ; such is the 
quintessence of their creed. It was this, as we 
believe, that made their honest but inefficient old 
chief, Micanopy, persist against the war up to the 
last moment. The torrent of ill-advised and faith- 
less councils was against him, and he was forced 
into the war. 

In asking of you, gentlemen, to visit upon that 
race that indignation for their treachery and faith- 
lessness which they so richly merit, I only ask of 
you to judge of them by their own standard, their 
own rules of action. Their respect for us can never 
be secured by permitting them with impunity to 
trifle with their own solemn engagements. They 
have their own councils, and formal meetings and 
talks. They understand ceremony ; and they un- 
derstood well, very well, the sacredness and impor- 
tance of a treaty maturely discussed, and with due 
show and pomp, formally and solemnly ratified. 

No ; it has not been through ignorance that they 
have erred. They have had light, plenty of light, 
and their own deputation returned from the west, 
" to report what they had seen with their own eyes 



29 



and heard with their own ears." In the nature of 
things there could have been no fraud in that tran- 
saction. Among all their subterfuges they have 
never pretended that they had not fairly examined 
that country, decided in favor of it, and confirmed the 
treaty. They never set forth for themselves such a 
plea. Five out of the eight chiefs of the deputation, 
became the instigators and ringleaders of the war. 
Sam Jones was of this number and has been a very 
Ajax in the war. They commenced by inhumanly 
murdering that much-loved chief, Charley Omarthla, 
one of the deputation who remained faithful. Thus 
those who had the most light, were the most faith- 
less. 

The ratification at Fort Gibson was re-confirmed 
by a majority of the chiefs at Fort King, on the 23d 
April, 1835. Great and indulgent delay was al- 
lowed in the execution of the treaty. Three years 
had been given them to prepare to leave. They 
were treated with great lenity and kindness ; and it 
was even too much and too long the studious aim 
of the government, to prevail peaceably upon the 
perfidious savages to fulfil their engagements. 

Do you ask why they were induced to violate 
such solemn engagements 1 I will answer, that I 
believe that the influence of the negroes, who were 
afra'd of detection by the whites, and therefore op- 
posed to removal, has been all-powerful in creating 



30 



and fomenting their hostile acts. Many of those 
negroes were arch-fiends in their race. Obtaining 
great influence over their self-styled masters, by 
their talents and acuteness, as well as by their su- 
perior knowledge of the whites, — they were cunning 
enough to excite the war, and make the red man 
push forward and conduct operations while they 
pulled the wires in the back-ground. The love of 
plunder and of bloodshed, the real wrongs inflicted 
upon them by the frontier inhabitants, the malign in- 
fluence of interested and unprincipled Spaniards 
and white men, and a passionate fondness for war, 
are among the additional causes which led to the 
commencement of that sanguinary war. 

A vagabond and idle race, the heat of the climate 
had only served to enervate them, and hide from ob- 
servation their warlike character. But that same me- 
ridian sun which in peace gives them the aspect of 
weakness and effeminacy, in war rouses all their 
energies, and seems to have imparted to them all the 
ferocity which characterizes the wild beast of such 
tropical climates. 

It cannot be denied that in the history of the 
Indian race, we can often find much to excite our 
unqualified admiration. But notwithstanding his 
undoubted bravery and his stoical indifference to all 
the evils of war, we conceive that there is far more 
to challenge that admiration when he is smoking 



31 



the pipe of peace, than when he has raised the 
war-whoop for his ferocious warfare. In peace, he 
is hospitable, faithful as a friend, fiee, open, and 
manly in his deportment, and exhibits many pleasing 
social qualities. But in war he relapses into the 
brute, and assumes the fury of a panther and the 
ferocity of a tiger. The cruelty and fierceness of 
the latter, should as soon call for our praise as the 
warlike demeanor of an American savage. Nay 
more, they will not only steal upon their prey and 
stab him in the dark, like the ferocious animals they 
imitate, they will in general likewise skulk away 
from the conflict, and it is their bonst that they will 
not stand to a fair and equal combat. 

The Seminoles have certainly exhibited the most 
consummate talents for stratagem and deceit, and 
have in every way evinced the possession of uncom- 
mon fortitude and perseverance. But we are com- 
pelled to believe that in their military character, they 
present far less claims to our admiration than 
many other Indian tribes of this continent. With 
them, flight in battle meets with no disgrace. 
On the contrary, the ancient natives of Chili, 
and that noble tribe, the Wyandots of the North 
West, always boldly met their foe and manfully 
adhered to their ground. 

In the history of the deeds of those eminent 
chiefs, Phillip, Pontiac and Tecumseh, we meet 



32 



with repeated instances of their saving the lives of 
prisoners in war, allowing their hearts, for the time 
being, to be softened by manly and generous senti- 
ments. Thus, in the romantic pages of Indian 
story, we can find bright and gratifying exceptions to 
that savage cruelty which in general marks their 
wars. But are any such exceptions to be found in 
the Seminole story I Have they ever shown any 
desire, when opportunity occurred, to extend mercy 
to a victim ? Let Oceola's traitorous murder of Gen. 
Thompson, with the very rifle received at his hands, 
answer that question. Let it be answered by the 
fate of that lamented and accomplished naturalist, 
Dr. Frederick Leitner. Roaming over their coun- 
try, he was known to them, previous to the war, as 
a physician and lover of plants and roots ; — and he 
is captured alive by them with the express inten- 
tion of causing him to administer medicines to their 
sick. How deep his joy, to find that it is still al- 
lowed to him to live upon the soil of his beloved 
Florida ? How 7 grateful does he feel that his medi- 
cinal talents have elicited such forbearance in the 
breast of the savage ? Does he survive t Does 
he survive t — No ! He is soon slaughtered by his 
inhuman captors ; — and his bones still lie bleaching 
near the banks of the river Saint Lucia ! — Me thinks 
we can perceive the gentle spirit of that single- 
hearted man still hovering over the soil it had been 



33 



the last and devoted object of his earthly existence 
to explore and illustrate, and it still looks down with 
wonder that such relentless cruelty can continue to 
inhabit the human form. Had we heard of his final 
salvation, friendship would have shed a tear of joy 
for such glad tidings, and our heart would have 
beaten with admiration for the true bravery and 
heaven-born mercy, which had for once descended 
to penetrate the dark bosom of the Seminole. 

Such, gentlemen, is the race our troops have had 
to contend with. To punish that race for its faith- 
lessness, for its contumacy, its rapine, and the blood 
shed by it on the frontiers, our government properly 
took measures to chastise them with the strong hand 
of military power. 

It now becomes our duty to speak of that devoted 
little band, which marched from Tampa Bay on the 
morning of the 23d December, 1835, under the com- 
mand of the gallant Major Dade. ■ Major Dade, 
Captains Frazer and Gardiner, Lieutenants Basin- 
ger, Mudge, Keais and Henderson, and Assistant 
Surgeon Gatlin, were the officers who accompanied 
the detachment, which thus consisted in all of eight 
officers and about one hundred men. They were true 
soldiers. They had devoted their lives to the cause 
of their country. They were choice spirits. Their 
hearts beat high with hope ; and, with few excep- 
tions, they fully believed that if they should meet 



34 



the foe in the field of battle, it would prove but a 
brilliant and successful repulse to the enemy. The 
number of the Seminoles who would prove hostile 
was then unknown, and remained to be tested. 

Upon them devolved that awful duty : — to tear 
aside the veil which covered the future, and con- 
cealed the designs of those savages. 

They did meet the foe, and it was a most brilliant 
though unsuccessful engagement. We know that 
the first impression spread abroad led to the idea 
that they were instantly cut up, with comparatively 
little resistance on their part. No, gentlemen, in the 
strongest sense of the word it was a battle ; it should 
not be styled a massacre. It commenced at 8 o'clock 
on the morning of the 28th December, 1835, and it 
lasted full five hours, being divided into two separate 
conflicts.. And any one acquainted with warfare, 
knows full well that an engagement lasting that 
length of time, deserves the name of a battle, a 
\ hard-fought battle. 

They were the few against the many. Their 
J enemy, sure of his prey, had chosen the open pine- 
) forest for his rendezvous, and concealed from sight 
/ behind the dense, low shrubbery which covered the 
i ground, with well-poised rifle he patiently waited 
\ his own moment of attack. The first signal-shot 
| was fired. 'Twas followed by a sheet of flame. The 
^ i% ear-piercing fife and the spirit-stirring drum" were 



35 

not there, but the forest resounded with the war- 
whoop of the enemy. Ambuscaded by a large body 
of savages, containing, by the fairest estimate, more 
than ten times their own number, that gallant band 
fought long and vigorously, and against fearful odds. 
Various were the changes of the combat. Dade, 
Frazer, and Mudge, were the first to fall, and they 
fell in front, fighting to the last, and in the thickest 
of the conflict. But their comrades did not falter 
from the loss of their brave commander. They 
stoutly maintained their ground, and they conquered ! 
They conquered! At the end of the first attack, 
the enemy is repulsed, and compelled to retire 
before the small remnant of that intrepid com- 
mand.* They successfully resisted for nearly two 



* The conclusion here stated, that in that affair, the enemy were 
repulsed when they retired at the end of the first attack, is now left 
beyond all donbt. It was, of course, the only satisfactory explana- 
tion of the fact. But it is true that when first announced, the minds 
of many could not immediately believe that so small a party could, 
after so long and to them so fatal a struggle, be thus successful 
against such superior numbers. It was surmised that that large 
body of savages held their prey quietly in their own hands, to im- 
molate them when they chose. Such could only look upon them 
as victims, but not as victors. The wounded men who came in, 
could of course give only conjectures. But Alligator, when he 
came into the army at Fort Dade, in March, 1837, acknowledged 
that they were repulsed. He also stated that he had to harangue 
them along time, as mentioned in the text, before they would renew 
the fight, and then not until a reinforcement arrived. 



36 



hours, at the end of which time, after sixty of their 
own number lay dead or dying upon the ground, 
the remaining forty have the deep satisfaction of 
being left victors upon the field, the enemy retiring 
in confusion at all points. 

Gentlemen, I pause. — I pause to ask you to look 
at the condition of that little command. The solemn 
interval that now ensues, is to them a proud and in- 
tensely interesting moment. Such would have been 
the crisis in civilized warfare, for that victorious 
band to secure an honorable retreat. But no, gen- 
tlemen, they cannot, as in civilized warfare, leave 
their bleeding and wounded comrades upon the 
field in the hands of a humane and generous enemy. 
They gather their wounded and the dying within a 
temporary breastwork, hastily constructed upon the 
spot, and there they determine to defend their un- 
fortunate comrades until the last drop of blood shall 
be shed upon that consecrated ground, and until the 
last breath of life shall depart from their bodies. 
The active commander of the Seminoles, the fiery 
Alligator, harangues his followers, and urges them, 
with earnest and impassioned eloquence, once more 
to renew the combat. For two hours the savages 
persist in declining, and they do not move forward 
until a reinforcement arrives to give new vigor to 
their arms. They finally advance, and the conflict 
that now ensues is maintained with unflinching re- 



37 



solution by those who occupy the frail entrenchment. 
— I shall not go on. The eye of Heaven was the 
only spectator of that obstinate defence. — I shall 
not go on. For what tongue can describe the deeds 
of valor then and there achieved 1 

The result we all know, and their bodies, when 
found upon that field, were arranged side by side 
within that hallowed breastwork, resting in the arms 
of death upon the very spot where they had fought 
and died. 

Look for a moment at General Gaines' army, as, 
for the first time after the conflict, it visited that in- 
teresting ground. Attempt to conceive of the va- 
rious and intense emotions with which it was ap- 
proached by the friends and brother-soldiers of the 
departed. How fraught with interest to the eye of 
friendship, anxious to obtain still further confirmation 
of the memorable story! How solemn, religious 
and impressive was the scene ! Yes, it would be 
utterly futile to attempt to describe the profound and 
overpowering feelings with which it was viewed : nor 
72, eed I endeavor to aid your imaginations in con- 
ceiving how much our admiration was increased by 
finding that that gallant party had so faithfully pre- 
served the integrity of its numbers, adhering to each 
other up to their dying gasp. How was it that only 
four (and they all severely wounded) escaped from 
that bloody field 1 Why did we not find their 



38 



bodies scattered throughout the space of miles 
in that vicinity 1 We have every reason to believe 
that, victors as they were at one time, their rear was 
a long time open to flight. Was not the period 
of five hours long enough to allow them numerous 
opportunities of departure 1 No ! they resolved to 
adhere to their wounded comrades. The men were 
inspired with the spirit of their officers. And when 
their bodies were counted upon that field, the num- 
ber answered officer for officer, man for man, name 
for name, with the regular muster-roll with which 
they were compared. That sacred muster-roll has 
already been traced on the annals of history, and is 
indelibly engraved on the hearts of the brave and 
generous of our land. 

Surely, gentlemen, we need not request that you, 
as members of the Military Academy, shall be proud 
to preserve the memory of that day. 



*"* Need we look for deeds of valor and intrepidity 
to the exploits of the knight of feudal times, crested 
and stoutly armed to the teeth, with shield and 
buckler for the combat 1 Need we look to Agin- 
court and Poictiers, to the history of our Saxon an- 
cestors, that " iron race iniron clad ?" Need we look 
to the sublime achievements of the warriors of an- 
cient Greece and Rome 1 Did that illustrious band 
who fell at the straits of Thermopylae, contend against 
more fearful odds than did those brave men whose 




39 



deeds we this day commemorate 1 I ask you not to 
contrast the heroic and all-powerful motives which 
animated the one, with all the disheartening circum- 
stances which surrounded the other. I ask you not 
to look to the elevating and unbounded influences 
which inspired the one in the defence of their own 
homes, and sacred firesides, and their household 
gods. I ask you not to bear in mind that those 
faithful soldiers of our modern republic were sent 
to a distant and a desert country, to fight against a 
dastard and a savage foe. I barely ask you to read 
the simple unvarnished narrative, and to compare 
the acts of the one with the acts of the other. 

In dwelling upon the gallant bearing of those 
noble spirits, it would be impossible to discriminate 
between them, did I desire to do so. The majority 
of those officers were young and unseasoned sol- 
diers, not yet inured to the war-whoop or to the flash 
of gunpowder. Some of them assumed the stamp 
of veterans in courage and discipline almost before 
they had doffed the gray uniform of the cadet. All 
but Dade, Frazer, and Dr. Gatlin, were graduates of 
this Academy. 

It will not be inappropriate to mention that two 
out of the eight officers were volunteers on this oc- 
casion. The first instance to which I shall refer, is 
a fine illustration of that refined courtesy which 
will ever mark the intercourse of true soldiers. 



40 



The gallant Dade volunteered to command the 
expedition in the place of an officer whose lady was 
very ill, and desired his presence. That chivalrous 
officer (Capt. Gardiner,) at first complied, but was 
soon afterwards enabled to join the detachment, and 
thus gratify his earnest desire not to be absent from 
the post of duty and of danger. The other case is 
that of Lieut. Henderson, who, having resigned 
previous to the breaking out of the war, had, but a 
day or two before the command marched, received 
from the President of the United States the accept- 
ance of his resignation. In the true spirit of the 
commission he had received from that august per- 
sonage, he instantly concluded to march with the 
command, rather than set forth for his native moun- 
tains of Tennessee. He and the intrepid Mudge, 
both wounded and disabled in one arm, continued to 
urge on their comrades, and to ply the rifles with 
which they were provided, up to the last moment. 
They fought nobly and bravely to the last. 

We trust we shall be pardoned also for alluding 
to some of the circumstances connected with the 
conduct of the commander of this detachment. 
Major Dade has been charged with a Quixotic spirit 
in having counselled the marching of this command. 
At the same time that we have shed a tear over the 
memory of their deeds and of their virtues, no more 
appropriate occasion could be offered to remove what 



41 



I conceive to be an unjust imputation upon the con- 
duct of that brave man. It is barely necessary to 
state that he had arrived at Tampa Bay but two 
days previous to the marching of that command, and 
thus he had but slight opportunities to study the 
dispositions and intentions of the enemy. Much 
difference of opinion existed. The Indian is noto- 
rious for the secrecy of his councils, and the propor- 
tion of the Seminole nation then bent on open war 
and bloodshed was by no means well ascertained. 
Under such circumstances it was easy to commit an 
error. If Major Dade erred, it was the error of a 
gallant soldier, for the grand point upon which he 
repeatedly and earnestly insisted was, that unless 
the clearest evidence was adduced as to the difficulty 
of the operation it was imperatively necessary to 
obey the order of the commanding general, though 
it was true that that order had been issued under a 
different aspect of things. He at all events, by 
volunteering for that service, showed his willingness 
to abide the result of his own councils. 

Many and various were the accomplishments of 
all those officers, and long^ long will the memory of 
their virtues remain embalmed in the hearts of those 
who knew them. 

In reading Irving's very interesting history of the 
romantic adventures in Florida of Hernando de Soto, 
three centuries ago, in search of the fountain which 

6 



42 



would rejuvenate age, and secure perpetual youth to 
man, we were struck with its accurate description of 
the face of the country, as it has been bequeathed 
to us of the present day. That renowned cavalier 
" was exposed to infinite perils from the rivers, mo- 
rasses, and tangled forests through which he was 
compelled to pass." His expedition landed at 
Espiritu Santo, (now Tampa Bay,) and it is not a 
little curious to observe, that he appears to have 
taken his course northward, toward the same " great 
morass," or, as we call it, the " Cove of the With- 
lacoochie," where more recent commanders have 
encountered such numerous obstacles in effecting 
their progress. Florida appears to have been a fatal 
Eldorado to those early Spanish adventurers. Most 
ominously did the historian say of its enterprising 
discoverer, the unfortunate Ponce de Leon, that " he 
seems to have bequeathed his ill-fortune to his suc- 
cessors." Little did any one suppose, four years 
ago, that any further confirmation of that statement 
could be furnished in our day. 

This war has been attended with many long and 
protracted operations. It is not necessary that I 
should use many words in describing the nature of 
the warfare. The fording of rivers, the wading of 
swamps, the penetration of hammocks, constitute 
the great and severe labor of the troops. The na- 
ture of the country is in every way fitted to favor 



43 



such a guerilla warfare. It is spotted all over with 
swamps and hammocks, those ready-made fortifica- 
tions, so well understood by the savage. The heat 
of the sun and the sickliness of the season preclude 
operations during four months of the year. These 
Indians are brave, wily, fleet and persevering. When 
we become strong in numbers, they divide into small 
parties. As long as they find such ready means of 
subsistence, and continue to elude our armies, they 
have the game in a great measure in their own 
hands. The Seminole is almost always entrenched 
behind the skirts of some dense hammock, and 
never delivers his fire except from ambuscade. The 
moment he loses that decided advantage, which he 
is sure to possess when he first makes his attack, he 
instantly adopts flight as the efficient principle of 
his tactics. Flight— flight— flight. — This is the 
grand element of his strategy ; this is the Hannibal 
of that Punic war. 

If any further explanation for the protracted na- 
ture of that war is required, it must, in a great 
measure, be found in the novel and impracticable 
character of the task to be performed, viz : — not to 
drive them from one region to another contiguous 
to it, but to extract such a race, not surrounded by 
the whites, from one soil and territory, and to trans- 
plant them to another and remote location. Under 



44 



such circumstances, the troops in that country have 
often accomplished wonders. 

We will now pass to consider the battle of Okee- 
chobee, which took place on the 25th December, 
1837, at the Lake known by that name, situated at 
the northern extremity of the celebrated everglades. 
This action differed much from the one we have 
just been considering. The numbers on both sides 
were about equal, and on this occasion the decided 
advantage of the enemy consisted in the strongly 
entrenched position he had chosen. He was lodged 
along the borders of a thick cypress swamp, in front 
of which lay a wide and deep morass, which it was 
necessary to cross in order to attack him. Alliga- 
tor commanded also in this battle. He has been the 
great warrior of the Seminoles, and is, in our opi- 
nion, fairly entitled to all that repute which has been 
usurped by Oceola. The latter was rendered noto- 
rious in his efforts to bring on the war, but it does 
not appear that he was ever a prominent leader in 
battle. Alligator, on this occasion, showed the skill 
of a regular engineer in the choice of his position, 
and afterwards fully maintained his reputation as a 
powerful and courageous chieftain. 

Colonel Taylor, in command of about 500 men, 
consisting of portions of the 1st, 4th and 6th regi- 
ments of Infantry, and some Missouri Volunteers, 
advanced to attack the enemy thus securely posted. 



45 



For the first and perhaps only time in the whole 
course of that war, the commander was well informed 
of the position and designs of the enemy. Indeed 
Alligator sent a banter to the gallant Colonel, telling 
him that they were ready to meet him. The troops 
therefore pushed on as if to the storming of a regu- 
larly fortified work. Sunk up to their waists in the 
swamp, they attempted to cross the morass. They ad- 
vanced coolly and steadily — they received the precise 
and deadly fire of the enemy, who preserved with 
great effect his safe position behind the large and con- 
venient trees of the hammock. The action was a long 
and severe one. Nearly three hours elapsed before 
the enemy was completely dislodged from his ground. 
The Sixth Regiment of Infantry (well supported by 
the Fourth) sustained the brunt of the action. To 
that gallant and veteran regiment belonged each of 
those lamented officers, Thompson, Van Swearingen, 
Brooke and Center, who early fell in this battle, 
each in his own proper place, and in the hottest of 
the fight. Colonel Thompson led on the regiment 
firmly to the attack, and though twice severely 
wounded, early in the action, he still remained at 
the head of his command, encouraging and urging 
it on to the combat. " Advancing he received a 
third ball, which at once deprived him of life." The 
inspiration of his noble example, and his last dying 
injunction and appeal to his regiment, did not fail to 



i 



46 



nerve the arms of those who surrounded him. He 
and the brave Missourian, Col. Gentry, each fell at 
the head of their respective commands. 

Precluded by the chances of war from taking the 
most prominent place in the outset of this conflict, 
upon the Fourth Regiment of Infantry devolved the 
task of finally routing the enemy, and dislodging 
him from his strong position. They were tho- 
roughly routed and faithfully pursued until night- 
fall. Alligator no longer thought his Micka- 
sukies invincible, and they soon after concluded 
to put a stop to operations by the old artifice of 
feigning a desire for peace. Though our troops 
suffered greatly, the action was in every way success- 
ful : the loss of the enemy was severe, and they found 
they could no longer be secure in their best chosen 
and darling strongholds. 

But deeply, most deeply, do we deplore the loss 
of those brave men. The four officers who fell in 
that action were ail graduates of the Military Aca- 
demy. 

The senior in rank was a devoted Christian, as 
well as a firm, cool and faithful officer. Long had 
his life been consecrated to the service of his coun- 
try and of his God, and the last life-drop of his heart 
was freely poured out at the sacred altar of duty 
and of patriotism. Long may the memory of his 
bright example be preserved and perpetuated ! 



47 



With the junior officers in rank and in years, we 
were more intimately acquainted ; and were this the 
proper place for such a recital, we would gladly 
dwell upon the manly graces and accomplishments 
which adorned their characters. Modest and un- 
pretending in their deportment, generous and faith- 
ful in their friendships, as gentlemen and as soldiers 
they were equally loved and respected. The in- 
trepid valor of all was fully evinced in that hard- 
fought action, an action which has seldom been 
equalled in success and brilliancy in the annals of 
our Indian wars. 

The honorable Secretary of War, in the order 
subsequently issued from his department, and in 
his communications to Congress, has bestowed am- 
ple and grateful praise upon the conduct of the 
troops in that affair.* 

In addressing you at this time, gentlemen, I am 
quite sure that you all stand ready to respond to the 
sentiments which the occasion is so well calculated 
to inspire. As members of this Academy, and of 
the military profession, you must have received, with 
the deepest interest, the accounts which have from 
time to time reached us of the gallant bearing of 
our comrades in Florida. Months and years have 



* Col. Z. Taylor, of 1st Regiment of Infantry, received the brevet 
of a Brigadier General for his gallantry and good conduct on that oc- 
casion. 



48 



passed away since these events occurred, but time 
cannot wash out the remembrance of their honora- 
ble example, and of their lamented fate, and can 
serve but to soften and to hallow the feelings which 
were at first excited. 

Greatly has our little army suffered in that pro- 
tracted war. We have lost many by the hand of 
disease, as well as by the rifle of the enemy. Thirty- 
three officers have died or been killed. Fifteen of 
that number were killed in battle, ten of whom were 
graduates of the Military Academy. So that out of 
the entire number of graduates who have been slain 
in battle, since the foundation of the Academy, one 
half have fallen in Florida. 

On that soil the blood of those who represent- 
ed every section of the Union has been mingled 
together " in one red burial blent." Massachu- 
setts and Georgia, New- York and Virginia, Mary- 
land and North Carolina, South Carolina and 
Tennessee, the North and the South, the East and 
the West, have all furnished their quota. And those 
who on this classic ground, and within the walls of 
their alma mater, were united in their studies and 
ardent in their friendships, there together shed their 
blood in the cause of their country. 

The number of regular troops employed in Flo- 
rida has always been comparatively small. Through- 
out the entire war they have evinced the highest mili- 



49 



tary virtues. They have performed the severest labors 
and endured the bitterest privations. Patience, sub- 
ordination, discipline, coolness, invincible courage 
and undaunted enterprise, have characterized every 
month of their operations. Just and true were the 
words of a distinguished senator on the floor of 
Congress, when he said " Officers and men have 
fought it out where they were told to fight : they 
have been killed in the tracks where they were told 
to stand. In no one of our Indian wars have our 
troops so stood together, and conquered together, 
and died together, as they have done in this one, 
and this standing together is the test of the soldier's 
character." 

Such is the deliberate opinion of a military man, 
whose sound judgment in such matters cannot be 
called in question. 

If the enemy had adopted any other than his 
own peculiar policy of flight, and of hiding in the 
swamps, the conflict long ere this would have been 
ended. Enough, I trust, has been said to make it 
appear that the events which have occurred in that 
quarter, have not failed to sustain and to throw ad- 
ditional lustre on the American character, notwith- 
standing the signal want of success which has 
attended our operations. 

I have before asserted that it is the true effect of 
your entire education to draw out, and elevate, and 
7 



50 



confirm all those admirable traits which make up the 
true American character. That assertion it has 
been my object since to illustrate. 

The American soldier is remarkable for his pa- 
tience, his unflinching endurance of privations, his 
love of enterprise, and above all for his devoted pa- 
triotism. He mingles the firmness and steadiness 
of the English soldier, with the fire, impetuosity and 
love of glory which distinguish the French. Devo- 
tion to duty is his watch-word. What were the 
memorable and dying word-s of those heroic spirits 
who fell in the sanguinary conflicts we have been 
considering ? First of Basinger — " I am the last 
officer left : — men ! we will do the best we can" 
Of Izard, the generous Izard, (a volunteer in that 
war,) " Keep to your places, men ! and lie close.'''' Of 
Thompson, " Keep steady men — charge the ham- 
mock — remember the regiment to which you belong" 
Duty — duty — duty. This forms the burden upon 
their souls — this is the last thought upon their 
hearts, the last dying injunction from their lips. 

The love of country is his proudest characteristic, 
and should constitute the ruling passion in the 
breast of the American soldier. This should form 
his " point dlionneur" His " esprit du corps" 
should embrace his whole native land. His ardent 
and undying patriotism is fastened upon the noblest 
objects ever presented to the mind of man. He 



51 



fights not for a royal master, but for freedom and in 
the cause of his country. And for such a country ! 
So fair, so beautiful, so sublime in its scenery, so 
extended in its territory, so free in its institutions, 
so illustrious in its history, so glorious in its destiny! 
Well may the soldier of our republic exclaim, 

" Dulce et decorum est pro palria mori /" 

To maintain her fair fame unimpaired, and to 
provide for the defence of a country so much be- 
loved, was the object to be effected in the establish- 
ment of this Institution. The education devised to 
accomplish this object requires attention to many 
useful branches of knowledge, the acquirement of 
which should also insure much moral as well as 
mental cultivation. Mere physical courage forms but 
a small part of the genuine military character. Upon 
it must be engrafted many useful, solid, and grace- 
ful acquirements. The'following military apothegm 
occurs in one of Sheridan's plays : — " Let your 
courage be as keen but at the same time as polished 
as your sword." If thus much is said of physical 
courage, can we place too high an estimate on the 
improvement of the heart and of that stock of firm 
principles and accurate ideas which, more than any 
thing else, constitute true moral courage 1 Such 
principles and such ideas your education should 
cherish and inculcate. 



52 



The root of all true military virtue is to be sought 
in morality and religion. It cannot support a bad 
cause. It is a duty enthroned in the heart of a patriot, 
and meets with a response from all who cherish 
an honorable and lofty ambition. It is the legiti- 
mate offspring of that generous aspiration which 
longs for something better than this earth can afford. 
He who loves to conceive of that degree of perfec- 
tion which man ought to attain, will never abstract 
the military virtues from his beau ideal. The Ger- 
man student, with all his devotion to learned lore, is 
remarkable for his hardihood and true chivalry of 
character, the foundation of which lies deep, and 
must be sought in that very love of abstraction, and 
that calm, intellectual zeal which especially distin- 
guish his mental constitution. Intrepidity in the 
cause of science is a kindred quality. Clapperton 
and Humboldt doubtless endured as many privations 
and encountered as many dangers, as they might 
have experienced in many campaigns. 

Cherish enthusiasm in a good cause. " Down 
with enthusiasm" is not the watch-word of wisdom. 
Investigate for yourselves. Do not pin your faith 
upon any leader, but form your own cool, manly, and 
independent conclusions. Scrutinize fully and care- 
fully the object in which it is enlisted, but still cherish 
a sober and well-tempered enthusiasm. It is the soul 
of the intellect, and it was given to man as the vital 



53 



and active agent of his understanding, never to slum- 
ber when it has a proper field for its action. It 
must constitute that Promethean fire, which, ac- 
cording to classic story, was enkindled in the 
breast of man at his creation, and will continue 
to animate him as long as he aims to accom- 
plish the true glory and dignity of his race. It 
teaches the mind to turn inward upon itself and 
contemplate its own mysterious and glorious nature. 
It arouses the imagination. — It excites 

— " That perception of the beautiful, 

" That fine extension of the faculties, 
" Platonic, universal, wonderful, 
" Drawn from the stars, and filtered through the skies." 

It cherishes a sympathy with the whole created 
world ; — it loves the sublime and beautiful truths 
of natural science ; — it seeks the highest good 
of the whole human race ; it is in harmony 
with the universe ; and, as its most joyful and 
exalted exercise, it looks forward to the day 
when it may join the angelic host in anthems of 
praise around the throne of the Creator. It descend- 
ed from heaven, and its unbounded homage is alone 
due at the shrine of religion. But true valor, en- 
gaged in a good cause and controlled by reason, is 
akin to religion ; it is modest and unknown to its 
possessor ; and it is entwined with all that is lovely 
and attractive in the character of man. Unyielding 



54 



constancy and fortitude constitute a still higher and 
sterner element of character, and is but another form 
of that pure " Faith which is unchanged by suffer- 
ings, time, or death." 

May a kind providence grant such wisdom and 
virtue to our national councils, that the wars in which 
our young republic may be involved, may ever be 
founded in the most perfect justice. War is a mat- 
ter of most solemn and serious import to all. When 
once it becomes inevitable, we should be able to 
throw into it all that solemnity of purpose and depth 
of feeling which is suited to an object involving the 
honor, peace, and glory of the nation. 

Should not recent events confirm us in the hope 
that the graduates of this Academy will never fail to 
sustain the honor of our arms 1 If such instances 
of heroic devotion have been elicited in that war, 
what might not be expected of them in circumstan- 
ces fitted to call out all the pure, deep and sublime 
sentiments which would be inspired in the defence 
of their homes and of their country 1 Let us hope 
that the bright legacy of virtue and glory bequeathed 
to us by our beloved and venerated ancestors, may be 
preserved with undiminished lustre in the hands of 
present and future generations. Upon the graduates 
of this Academy an important part of this sacred duty 
will devolve. Let your standard be a high one. Let 
it be consonant with the past, with the present, and 



55 



with the future. In the past, in the character of the 
illustrious Father of our Country, we have a brilliant 
example of the true patriot, the accomplished officer, 
and the able commander — a model which the whole 
history of other nations cannot furnish for the study 
and humble imitation of the republican soldier. In 
the present, you have before you the conduct of those 
devoted officers, whose memory it is our duty this day 
to honor. In the future, the eye of the country will 
be fixed upon you ; and you will ever have before 
you the high expectations of your government, and 
the ever-increasing wants of a youthful, vigorous, and 
growing nation. That nation is moving onwards in 
every field of enterprise. Let not the standard of 
military knowledge be retrograde or stationary, 
whilst other, and many of them kindred, sciences, 
are constantly undergoing new and important im- 
provements. 

The acquirement of all knowledge is fitted to 
elevate the mind. To obtain military knowledge 
requires devotion to many profound and abstruse 
studies, which also lead the mind to investigate and 
to contemplate the most interesting phenomena in 
nature. To study nature, — nature in its most ex- 
tended sense, — to penetrate all its mysterious opera- 
tions, is the object of such researches. Of such 
knowledge has it truly been said, " its seat is in the 



56 

bosom of God— its voice is the harmony of the 
world." 

" A scie?itia ad gloriam" is the motto which 
graces the standard that floats over the corps of 
Cadets. It should be remembered both in peace 
and in war. Surrounded by that magnificent scene- 
ry which nature has spread around you ; every 
portion of this vicinity being fraught with the inspir- 
ing associations connected with the scenes of our 
revolution ; — engaged in those useful studies which 
at the same time that they prepare you for the prac- 
tice of your profession, teach you to admire what- 
ever is beautiful and ennobling in truth- — 

" Here high passions, high desires unfold, 

" Prompting to noblest deeds, 

" and thoughts divine inspire 

" A thirst unquenchable, a holy fire, 

" That will not, cannot but with life expire." 



NOTES. 



The following are the names, with the rank, regiment, &c, of the 
officers who fell at Dade's Battle Ground, Florida, on the 28th Decem- 
ber, 1835. 



Brevet Major Francis L. Dade, 4th Inf. 
Bv'tCapt. George W. Gardiner, 2d Art. 
Capt. Upton S. Frazer, 3d Art. 
2d Lieut. William E. Basinger, 2d Art. 
2d Lieut. Robert Rich Mudge, 3d Art. 
Bv't 2d Lt. Richard Henderson, 2d Art. 
Bv't2d John L. Keais, 3d Art. 
Assistant Surgeon John S. Gatlin. 



From what 

State 
Appointed. 


When graduated 
at the Military 
Academy. 


Virginia, 




D.C. 


1814 


New-York. 




Georgia. 


1830 


Mass. 


1833 


Tennessee. 


1835 


N. C. 


1835 


N. C. 





The following named officers fell at the battle near Lake Okeecho- 
bee, Florida, on the 25th December, 1837. 



From what Date of gradua- 
State ting at the Mili- 
AppoiBted. tary Academy. 

Lt. Col. Alexander R. Thompson, 6th In. New-York. I 1812 

Capt. Joseph Van Swearingen, do Maryland. | 1824 

1st Lieut. Francis J. Brooke, do Virginia. 1826 

1st Lieut. John P. Center, do Mass. [ 1833 



The other graduate of the Military Academy who fell in Florida, 
was 1st Lieut. Jas. F. Izard, 1st Dragoons, from. South Carolina, 
who was mortally wounded when in command of the advanced guard 
of Gen. Gaines' army, near the Withlacoochee river, on the 29th Feb. 
1836. He was also acting Brigade Major of the "Light Brigade," 
under the command of Col. Twiggs. 

Dade's Battle Ground lies N. N. E. from Tampa Bay, about six 

8 



58 



miles north of the " Little" Withlacoochee (or the north branch of 
that river,) and was situated in a central position with reference to 
several large towns of the Seminoles. Thus it was easy to concen- 
trate a very large body in a very short time from Pelaklikaha, the 
Wahoo Swamp, and the towns lying on the Ocklawaha and near 
the series of small lakes which form the u Cove of the Withlacoo- 
chee." 



Note on page 32. 

It is well known that Oceola saved the life of Primus, a negro, 
sent out in March, 1836, by Gen. Clinch, as a spy into the Indian 
camp. But it remains to be decided whether it was not policy which 
prompted the act. as that negro had a brother and other relations 
among the Seminoles ; — and the deed was calculated to strengthen 
his power over the negroes. Moreover, Primus did not quit them for 
many months afterwards, so he had probably contrived to change his 
allegiance. 



Note on page 32. 

Dr. Leitner, alluded to in the text, was a young German naturalist, 
whose place of residence had been at Charleston, whither he had 
emigrated from Germany about ten years ago. Since about the year 
1833, by the assistance of several liberal friends of science in that 
city, he had passed many months of each year in exploring the Ter- 
ritory of Florida, especially the southern portions, embracing the 
chain of islands or keys which form a belt around the south bend of 
the peninsula. His object was to study its Botany, Natural History, 
and Topography, which are comparatively unknown. Unfortunately, 
the breaking out of the war impeded his explorations ; but it only 
served to bring out in stronger light the singular perseverance and in- 
trepidity which marked his character. For he attached himself to the 
army for the purpose of continuing his investigatons. He accompa- 



59 



nied the party under the direction of the Navy which started from 
Key West in November, 1836, and explored the coast for 300 miles, 
from Cape Florida to Charlotte Harbor. He was unfortunately cap- 
tured by the enemy in a similar expedition, which landed at Jupiter 
Inlet, and had a skirmish with the Indians, on the 15th January, 1838. 
He was Acting Surgeon of the detachment, and it was thought that 
he advanced himself far beyond the proper post for such an officer. 
It was at first supposed that he was killed, but it was subsequently 
ascertained, to the joy of his friends, that, though severely wounded, 
he was captured alive by them, with the design mentioned in the text. 
The reader will judge of their anxiety to hear the result. It is known 
that a threat to effect a similar purpose had been made in reference to 
at least one other medical officer in Florida. 

He had nearly prepared for the press a work exhibiting the results 
of his researches. The deep loss which science sustained in the 
sudden demise of one who thus early fell a martyr to his devotion to 
her cause, is enhanced by the melancholy fact that very many of the 
specimens of plants and other materials for his work collected by him, 
are lost and have never yet been found. But we believe it is under_ 
stood that the Rev. Mr. Bachman, of Charleston, (so often men- 
tioned in Audubon's great work,) is engaged in the task of preparing 
for publication, what remains of the labors of this very modest, en- 
thusiastic, and much lamented student of Nature. 



Note on page 43. 

As long as they find such ready means of subsistence. 

There are no less than four different roots, which pervade the 
southern portions of Florida, which furnish food to the Indian. The 
red eoonta, or "red briar root;" — the white coonta, much resem- 
bling arrow root ; — the root of the " saw-palmetto ;" and a species of 
wild potato. Besides these, the trunk of the " cabbage-tree" affords 
an esculent pith very pleasant to the taste. Fish and game in abun- 



60 



dance can be found • and the finest oysters abound in the bays and 
arms of the sea. With such abundant resources, in so mild a climate, 
it is not wonderful that the Seminole acquired an aversion to the 
cultivation of the soil. That soil, barren though it is in general, 
could furnish plenty of rich hammock land for the purposes of that 
tribe. In his fullness he would not even use the spontaneous produc- 
tions which nature had spread around him. Under all these circum- 
stances, we are compelled to believe that nothing but idleness on their 
part, or on the part of the negroes, who were often their masters, 
and a willingness to commence the game of deceit which has since 
marked their whole conduct, could have led them to petition the Ge- 
neral Government to afford them the means of subsistence in the year 



For an interesting and faithful description of the physical geogra- 
phy, resources, &c. of Florida, see an article by Major Henry Whi- 
ting, contained in the number of Silliman's Journal for October, 1838. 



Since the above was placed in the hands of the printer, we have 
noticed a report of some remarks made on the floor of the House of 
Representatives, on the 24th January, by the Hon. Mr.Everett, agentle- 
man whose devotion to the true interests of the red man, and whose ex- 
tensive knowledge of such subjects cannot be called in question. He 
strenuously maintains that the condition of the treaty of Payne's Land- 
ing was not fulfilled, inasmuch as only that portion of the Creek nation 
already beyond the Mississippi were consulted as to their favorable 
dispositions towards a re-union with the Seminoles. What are the 
words of the treaty? It provides that certain chiefs, therein named, 
together with their agent and interpreter, "shall be sent, as early as 
convenient, to examine the country assigned to the Creeks west of 
the Mississippi river, and should they be satisfied with the character 
of that country, of the favorable disposition of the Creeks to re-unite 
with the Seminoles as one people, then this treaty is to be binding on 



1828. 



Note on page 26. 




61 



the respective parties." They repaired accordingly to that country, 
examined it, satisfied themselves fully as to the disposition of the 
Creeks who were there, amounting then to about 2500 souls. Was 
not the evident and fair intention of the treaty thereby fulfilled? 
Had it designed any other investigation, would it not have provided 
that the same deputation should repair to Alabama, and there consult 
the Creeks in that country ? If the soil and country was approved 
of, and no impediment existed on the part of the Creeks already 
there, and if no objection was raised to the other tribes by whom 
they were to be surrounded, was not every essential ground of diffi- 
culty removed, and was not the design and spirit of the treaty ful- 
filled? 

We have never understood that in any of the conferences held 
with the Seminole chiefs since the commencement of the war, they 
have assigned any such want of faith in the government, which, in 
the minds of their advocates, affords the best defence of their con- 
duct. They have said little or nothing about anticipated difficulties 
with the Creeks, but have talked about the climate of the new country, 
complained that there was no " pitch-pine for fire-wood there,' 5 or 
assigned some other similar subterfuge. Audacious as these Indians 
are, they are not prone to attempt to justify their conduct ; — the want of 
fidelity being a fault which the Indian knows to be perfectly inexcusa- 
ble. They did not recriminate on those who made those treaties, 
but sometimes dilated furiously upon the misconduct of some sub- 
agent, whose subordinate situation they must have fully comprehend- 
ed. Such formed, with that eloquent chief Alligator, the burden of 
his song, when Micanopy delegated him to be his orator, and the ex- 
positor of his views, at the grand conference held with him when he 
came in at Fort Dade, in March, 1837, for the first time after the 
commencement of the war. 

Though we believe that all that was done was conceived in good 
faith, we are not certain but it would have been wise to have provided 
originally for some consultation with the Eastern Creeks. But 
if there arose in the minds of the Seminoles any repugnance to 
meeting the Creeks in Arkansas, the secret of it is to be traced to the 
fact that the latter had alleged that the former had stolen negroes from 



62 



them, and taken them away to Florida when they left the Creek 
country. This only exhibits the more strongly their worthless cha- 
racter, as it evinces a consciousness of guilt, and seems in every way 
to encourage the idea that they were entitled to their name as a ban- 
ditti tribe of vagabond savages. Indeed it is surprising that after the 
yearly and monthly examples of perfidy which they have continued 
to manifest, that any doubt should remain as to their real character. 
It seems to us to be a very great mistake to confound them with the 
other Southern tribes, who have always had much more in their cha- 
racter and situation to claim our interest and regard. 




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